The one thing that isn’t so great:They can crack, crumple, scratch, freeze, or break off. They’re relatively
fragile to begin with, and are part of a portable computer. That means
they move from desktop to traveling bag to overhead compartments and
under-seat storage, motel desks, and other temporary homes. Be careful
out there: LCD screens are the most vulnerable part of your laptop.Evolving from CRT to LCD...........................................................................
If you’re old enough to have seen some of the first computers — house-sized
boxes filled with vacuum tubes, relays, and click-clacking memory made up
of tiny rings and magnets — or if you are a fan of old science fiction movies,
you’ll remember that the next result of all the beeping, whirring, and groaning
of this mostly mechanical beast was a panel of flashing lights. These first
computers were used mostly as elephantine calculating machines for things
like toting up the U.S. Census or determining the aiming angle for an artillery
piece.The next step in the computer evolution was the connection of a primitive
teletype, an electric typewriter that clanked out a report, at first in numbers,
and eventually in some form of English-like words. It wasn’t until the mid-1960s
that government, universities, and big businesses began using television-like
monitors to display numbers and words. By the time of the arrival of the first
Apple II in 1976 and the IBM PC in 1981, monitors were able to display primi-
tive graphics.What do I mean by primitive graphics? The first monitors were character
based — essentially a video representation of a typewriter. The computer
would send a message to place the letter ein the 16th column of the 7th row
and a video controller would send instructions to illuminate the predefined
outline of that letter. The first games and images were created using alpha-
betic characters, artfully arranged. Figure 12-1 shows a version of a stick
figure that everyone thought was so cool when the computer would set it
to marching across the screen.O
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/\Figure 12-1:
This
primitive
graphic
used to thrill
computer
users.186 Part III: Laying Hands on the Major Parts